We went to the farmer’s market again this week and I scored a great deal on bananas and an ok deal on strawberries. I got 3 HUGE bunches of bananas for $3.75 and a quart of strawberries for $2. I spent $0.75 on a red bell pepper and we got out of there for $6.50! We had some left over money from being under budget last month, so we didn’t dip into the week’s grocery budget. Kind of cheating, but I ended up under budget at the store so not so bad!

I went to Publix and picked up milk, coffee (on sale BOGO and I had coupons, so I got 2 lbs of French Vanilla coffee for $3!), flour, and shaving gel for Andy all for about $15.

So in total I went over budget about $1.50 but I didn’t dip into next week’s money (I’m determined not to do that!).

I’ve been so happy there haven’t been many good grocery deals, it’s really hard for me to pass those up!

So far it’s been so easy eating from the pantry that I’m tempted to do it again next month! It doesn’t hurt that last month I was able to freeze half of many of the meals I made, so I have a lot of ready made meals in the freezer. I have even been able to freeze a lot of what I’ve made this month, like last week’s slow cooker chicken tacos. I was able to freeze two more meals just from that!

This week’s meal plan is pretty simple. Andy’s cleansing today, so I’m not making anything special. And he’s not home for dinner much this week, so it’s going to be a pretty low key week for us!

Here’s the meal plan:

Monday: hot dogs

Tuesday: Grilled chicken, risotto, and snap peas

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: tacos (using the frozen chicken taco meat mix and I’m going to try making homemade flour tortillas – should be interesting!)

Friday: Spaghetti Lasagna with garlic bread (I used leftover spaghetti from last weekend and layered it with cheese in casserole dishes – we’re having company so it will be an easy meal all the kids will love!)

Saturday: hamburgers and mac and cheese

Sunday: Pesto Pizza (I had planned on making this last week and we ended up having to eat up some leftovers so I postponed it.)

Since I made a freezer inventory a few weeks ago, I’m able to decide on meals from the freezer without standing in front of the open freezer and missing things in back. This week we’re definitely eating a lot out of the freezer!

Monday: leftovers

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos (I’ll be able to freeze half for next week)

Wednesday: Chicken/Broccoli/Cheese casserole from the freezer

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Pesto Pizza (our basil is huge so I’m excited to use it!)

Saturday: Slow Cooker Turkey with Squished Potatoes

Sunday: leftovers (Saturday’s turkey breast is huge so there will be tons to eat and freeze!)

Since we’re sticking to only buying produce and dairy this month when possible, this weekend’s shopping didn’t require a whole lot of preparation. I sent Andy and Katie to the store with a small list and they did great!

We went slightly over our $20 budget this week, but I planned to because we had a few extra dollars from a few weeks ago and we needed baby stuff.

I did take the girls to the farmers market this weekend and we got some great produce, and even tried Swiss Chard for the first time!

At Publix, we got Mylicon for Emma and vitamins for Katie, along with milk and cheese. Light trip, but we have everything we need!

Well, we have one week under our belts and we’re doing great! We stuck to the meal plan and really enjoyed each meal. If Andy hadn’t known we were doing this challenge he would not have been able to tell, which I deem a success!

I was even able to stretch Saturday’s spaghetti in to two more freezer meals. I combined homemade marinara (from the freezer) with a bag of frozen Italian veggies, a package of mild Italian Sausage and a can of crushed tomatoes with basil (we had used half the marinara on our pizza the night before so we didn’t have quite enough for the spaghetti, hence the crushed tomatoes). I mixed a pound of whole wheat angel hair pasta with all of this and we ate like kings. We had so much left over that I was able to make an odd lasagna – I layered the pasta mixture with cheese in two 8 x 8 baking pans (we had a couple bags of almost empty shredded cheese, so I was able to get rid of those) and stuck them in the freezer. Each of these will give us two dinners easily, since Katie doesn’t eat a whole lot!

I was also able to freeze two portions of the chili and cheese mixture I made for our chili cheese dogs, so we’ve got a couple more easy chili cheese dog nights in our future!

We had a busy weekend and I haven’t had time to sit down and make this week’s meal plan, so I’m doing that today. I do know that today is leftovers for me and Katie, since Andy is going his Cleanse Day today.

Let me preface this by saying that I tend to always make more food than we can eat, so we usually have an abundance of leftovers. This actually plays in my favor since I can always count on a few nights every week not having to cook! And let me tell you, those nights usually fall on a day I really need it!

By doubling recipes and freezing half, along with stocking up on staples at the store recently, I was able to amass quite an impressive freezer/pantry stockpile. Now is when we get creative!

I’m going to focus on dinners only, since Andy and I both have our shakes for breakfast and lunch so there is no need to meal plan for that. Katie is pretty predictable in her breakfast desires (Cheerios, oatmeal or eggs, fruit) and she either gets leftovers for lunch or things like chicken nuggets and whole wheat mac and cheese with veggies. She also loves frozen peas (right from the bag, still frozen!) so every lunch and dinner starts with that.

Monday: Mini Chili Cheese Dogs – I’m going to use some canned chili I got on sale with some hot dogs I have in the freezer and shredded cheddar I got on sale. Since I don’t really enjoy defrosted hot dog buns, I’ll wait until I absolutely have to use those later in the month. Instead, I’m planning to cut the hot dogs up and wrap them in crescent rolls, then smother them in chili and cheese. Should be yummy!

Tuesday: Gumbo – I made slow cooker gumbo today and doubled the recipe, so we had dinner tonight, dinner on Tuesday, and I will have a lot leftover to freeze. I was also able to use some frozen okra I have had in the freezer forever and not known how to use! (I may live in the South but I was raised up north, so I have no idea what to do with okra!) I’ll also make the other half of the frozen garlic bread loaf we ate half of tonight.

Wednesday: Enchiladas and Spicy Black Beans – Last week I made turkey enchiladas and froze half, so all I have to do is make the black beans. This will only work if I remember to put them out to soak on Tuesday night!

Thursday: leftovers – Andy’s not home for dinner that night so it works out well, Katie and I can finish off some leftovers and he doesn’t miss out on anything new and exciting.

Friday: Homemade Pizza – My mom’s pizza killer pizza dough recipe combined with frozen homemade marinara makes for a pretty good pizza. I have a bunch of yummy Mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano cheeses to top it with, plus some basil from our Earth Box. There aren’t usually leftovers from pizza night!

Saturday: Spaghetti with Marinara and Italian Veggies – Since I freeze my marinara in quart zip top bags, I will have enough left over from pizza night to make pasta on Saturday. I have a bag of Italian mix veggies in the freezer I’ve been wanting to use, so I’ll just throw it all together with some garlic bread or rolls, and Voila! Perfect date night dinner with the hubby!

Sunday: leftovers – I always make too much spaghetti.

As March begins and we embark on our first Eat From the Pantry Challenge, I am reminded of just how blessed we are. Having to be a little creative in our meal planning and grocery shopping for a month is nothing compared to the hardships so many people are facing. We have been incredibly blessed by God and I feel that my work to make the most of the money we have been given pleases Him.

With so many people suffering around the world, especially those who have been impacted by the devastating earthquakes recently, I am forced to put our situation into perspective. I could be upset with the financial position we are in, beating myself up over allowing it to happen. Instead, I am grateful for the nonmaterial blessings that are a direct result of the difficulties we find ourselves in.

By staying home to eat in lieu of eating out, our family has become closer than ever (and we didn’t think it was possible to be closer than we were!) and sharing these hardships has allowed us to bond in a way we had not previously. Our relationship with and faith in the Lord has grown exponentially – we have given our worries and stress up to Him and are focusing on bettering our situation instead of dwelling on our mistakes.

We are also forced to find creative ways to spend time with the people we care about. No longer can we just go out to eat with friends on a whim. Now, we either have friends over or go to their houses, for the most part. And I have to say, laughing and talking over a good home cooked meal while our kids play together is so much fun! I find that I’m able to focus on our friends and the conversation rather than making sure Katie’s not trying to climb out of her restaurant high chair or chew on the table. In one of our homes, we are all more comfortable and this allows us to make the most of our time together.

I am convinced that we are in this position as part of His plan for us, and I am determined to make the best of this season of our lives. We are by no means suffering and we’re lucky for that! So join me as I do minimal grocery shopping and creative meal planning, facing this challenge head on!

We are starting our Eat From the Pantry Challenge next week, so this weekend’s shopping trip was mainly for dairy and produce. Our Publix actually had some great produce deals and we were able to snag 3 cartons of fresh strawberries for $5! We also got some plum tomatoes for $1.29/lb and we were able to stock up on bananas to freeze for our shakes.

I couldn’t resist stocking up on vegetable oil that was Buy One Get One Free since we ran out a few weeks ago and I’ve been watching the sales to find some cheap!

But we were still able to get all of the above, plus milk and eggs, for about $19. The best part was that Andy did the shopping today since I was working, so I didn’t even have to brave the Saturday grocery crowds! All in all today was a success!

I’ve been inspired recently by other blogging mamas and their Eat From the Pantry Challenges (MoneySavingMom and LifeAsMom!) and our budget for March has challenged me to do my own Eat From the Pantry Challenge.

So to keep me accountable, I’ll be blogging about the challenges and triumphs. I’ll also be posting our weekly meal plans, so I’ll have to be creative! I am budgeting $20 per week for groceries in March, down from our normal $50 per month. Since I still will need to get produce and dairy, this should be enough. The big challenge will be to stop myself from taking advantage of all the grocery store deals! I am hoping for a light deal month.

In a couple days we’ll embark on this adventure! I’ll be doing our weekly shopping this afternoon if I can get myself organized in time, since we’ll be working at an expo all weekend. Such an exciting time in our lives!